Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, is of the opinion that bad leadership has seriously damaged Nigeria.
The former Anambra State governor said it is time for Nigerians to rescue the country and put an end to bad governance.
Obi made these assertions on Sunday in Toronto, Canada, where he engaged Nigerians resident in Canada in an interactive townhall session regarding the future of Nigeria.
Speaking on his political drive for 2023 and what he and his team will do to transform the nation, Mr Obi said the vision and mission is to give full expression to “our democracy by moving our country from consumption to production”.
In transforming the economy, the former governor disclosed that his party “intends to make it (the economy) more productive, thus creating employment and prosperity for millions of youths, reducing poverty in the land, and addressing issues of criminality and insecurity.
“We will aggressively pursue human capital development in the education and health sectors with available resources, while striving to adopt best global practices.
“We will have zero tolerance for corruption and will cut the cost of governance. Total commitment to transparency and accountability in government business is the only credible way to achieve limited to zero corruption.
“We will pursue intangible assets of good governance, rule of law, security of lives and properties, through an aggressive increase in personnel and equipment, and inclusive training of operatives in our security agencies.
“We will emphasize patriotism, national interest and national morale, quality of governance, political will, and character as complementary to others. We will ensure that we have these assets in place and stress asset optimization,” Obi explained.
Adding that his team intends to “lay special emphasis on critical infrastructures, especially Power, to ensure a clear measurable increase of today’s generation, transmission and distribution by 200% within the shortest possible time, through public-private partnership.
“We will aggressively pursue increased contribution of ICT to overall economic growth & national development.”
Furthermore, Mr Obi said the Nigerian Diaspora represents a broad segment of Nigeria’s human development capital, noting that with that population, the diaspora family has the capacity to catapult any nation to greatness.
According to him, the Nigeria Diaspora has the capacity, and therefore must have a commensurate voice.
“By the 2027 elections, Nigeria Diaspora must have a voice via absentee ballots,” the LP’s flagbearer declared.
He was optimistic that under his leadership, Africa will remain the centrepiece of Nigeria’s foreign policy, stressing that his administration will improve Nigeria’s diplomatic sphere of influence via peacekeeping, trade, and investment initiatives.